Unser Chat » perennial playoff side with a winning tradition and

TORONTO -- In playing Real Salt Lake this weekend, Toronto FC is taking on the kind of team it aspires to be -- a perennial playoff side with a winning tradition and championship character. Now in its 10th season, Real Salt Lake has made the playoffs the last six years, winning the MLS Cup in 2009. Until overtaken in the MLS record books early last year, Real Salt Lake held the league mark for consecutive home wins at 29. Rio Tinto Stadium was an impregnable fortress from June 2009 to May 2011. Toronto (2-0-0 this season) has a 1-5-0 lifetime record in Sandy, Utah. RSL (1-0-2 this season) was also the first MLS team to reach the CONCACAF Champions League final, losing to Monterrey 3-2 on aggregate in 2011. Last season Real Salt Lake made it to two finals but lost both: beaten in the MLS Cup by Sporting Kansas City in an agonizing penalty shootout and 1-0 by D.C. United in the U.S. Open Cup. There has been stability on the sidelines with Jeff Cassar, who has been with the team since May 2007, moving up the ladder to head coach last December after Jason Kreis became the first head coach of New York City FC. Cassar is the third head coach in RSL history. Toronto was on coach No. 5 in Year 4 and is currently on its eighth manager in Ryan Nelsen. RSL captain Kyle Beckerman arrived in 2007 in a trade from the Colorado Rapids. The midfielder with the distinctive dreadlocks credits coaching and a little luck for the franchises success. "We were able to get players into this team that were ready to be coached by a coach like Jason and Jeff Cassar and Robin Fraser (a former RSL assistant coach who is now with the New York Red Bulls)," he said Thursday. "It just so happened that we were able to get a group of guys together that ... really just needed a good environment -- an ownership that cared, a coaching staff that did the right thing. A lot of the guys were coming from places that didnt do the game right. "A lot of us, that core group thats still here, it was a breath of fresh air that we really needed. And we just took full advantage because we knew exactly the opportunity that was in front of us, because wed had it the opposite way, where the owner doesnt care or the coach just doesnt get it. "So I think we lucked out a little bit that we had the core in the same place, here in Salt Lake, that was just absolutely ready to explode and take full advantage of what was in front of us. And thats what we did." The 31-year-old Beckerman is joined on the team by fellow U.S. internationals Nick Rimando (a goalie who came on board in 2007) and Luis Gil (a midfielder who joined in 2010). Other veterans include defenders Nat Borchers (2008) and Chris Wingert (2007), midfielders Ned Grabavoy (2009) and Javier Morales (2007) and forwards Robbie Findley (two stints since 2007) and Alvaro Saborio (2010). Players want to come to winning clubs. And RSL does a good job checking out new talent. "They want to bring in not only good players but good people," said Beckerman. Toronto FC has followed the same road this off-season, with marquee signings Jermain Defoe, Michael Bradley, Gilberto and Julio Cesar all fitting in. Beckerman acknowledges that he respects Torontos search for success. "The thing that I really admire about Toronto is that they wont stop. Theyve kept at it. Theyve kept trying to fix and get the right recipe. And it doesnt seem like theyre going to stop any time soon. Theyre going to keep going and keep spending until they get the right recipe. "And I admire that. Thats something a lot of other teams would love to have that. With the fan base, theyve been loyal there and theyve stuck with them through tough times. The ownership and what theyre doing there, is kind of a reward to that loyalty and giving them a successful team. "Time will tell if this is the right one. But it seems so far that theyve brought in the right players so far. So I think its definitely on the up and up over there." Like Toronto, the early days were bleak in Salt Lake. The team went 5-22-5 with just 20 points in its inaugural season in 2005. In 2005-06, the fledgling franchise endured a league-record 18-game winless streak. But it didnt take long for Real Salt Lake to turn the corner. It had 39 points in Season 2 and 40 in Season 4, going 10-10-10 and reaching the 2008 playoff semifinals. In 2009, it was another 40-point season and the 11-12-7 team went on to win the title. Since then, RSL has collected 56, 53, 57 and 56 points. In contrast, Torontos points total since entering the league in 2007 is 25, 35, 39, 35, 33, 23, and 29. The two teams meet Saturday. Frank Clark Jersey . Thaddeus Young scored seven of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, Evan Turner added 22 points, and the 76ers hung on for their first road win since Nov. 1, beating the depleted Los Angeles Lakers 111-104 on Sunday night. Mecole Hardman Youth Jersey . The Kelowna, B.C. rink made the announcement on their facebook page on Thursday night. http://www.thechiefsshoponline.com/Youth-Christian-Okoye-Chiefs-Jersey/ . He made the comment at a media availability Saturday prior to Game 2 of the Boston-Montreal playoff series when a Quebec reporter said there is sentiment in Quebec that the NHL looks more favourably on Seattle than Quebec City when it comes to future expansion. Larry Johnson Jersey . Bjoerndalen broke the record he shared with cross-country skiing great Bjoern Daehlie, also matching his fellow Norwegians record of eight gold medals. Bjoerndalen earlier won gold in Sochi in the mens sprint biathlon. Tony Gonzalez Jersey . Alvarez hit his first career home run, pitched six innings and hurt his right hamstring while running the bases in the Miami Marlins 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.PHOENIX - Former NFL All-Pro safety Darren Sharper lost his bid Thursday to be released on bail in a sexual assault case after an Arizona judge found theres enough evidence to move forward with charges against him in that state. Sharpers lawyers had questioned the evidence authorities are using to justify keeping him in jail in California, where he faces separate charges that he drugged and raped two women in October after meeting them at a West Hollywood nightclub. A California judge had set Sharpers bail at $1 million but ruled in March that Sharper should remain in jail without bail after the Super Bowl champion was indicted in Arizona on charges that he drugged and sexually assaulted two women in November. His lawyers had hoped to win a favourable ruling from the Arizona judge to persuade the California judge to set him free on bail. But after two days of arguments in Phoenix, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Warren Granville found there is sufficient evidence to pursue the Arizona case against Sharper. The Arizona Constitution automatically denies bail to people charged with sexual assault if the proof against them is evident or the presumption of guilt is great. The move was the latest development in several ongoing sexual assault investigations involving Sharper in Louisiana, California, Florida, Arizona and Nevada. The indictment filed last month in Arizona alleges that Sharper gave the sedative zolpidem to three women and then had "seexual intercourse or oral sexual contact" with two of them without their consent on Nov.dddddddddddd21 at an apartment in Tempe. The drug is commonly sold under the brand name Ambien. Sharper has not yet entered a plea in the case, although one of his attorneys has said Sharper will deny those allegations. He has pleaded not guilty in the California case. Earlier this month, Granville denied a request from Sharpers attorneys to set bail, ruling that he didnt have jurisdiction until the former player was in Arizona. But Sharpers attorneys argued that the former player was entitled to a hearing to determine whether Arizona prosecutors have enough evidence to deny him bail. On Wednesday, Tempe police detective Kevin Mace said Sharpers DNA was recovered from the clothing of one of the two sexual assault victims in Arizona, but none of his DNA was found during an exam of the other woman. The detective also said a police search of the apartment turned up a shot glass with a white residue that turned out to be zolpidem, and California investigators discovered that Sharper had a prescription for the drug. On Thursday, Sharpers attorneys said their client did not make the drinks that authorities say he used to drug the women, and that neither woman suffered physical injuries. Prosecutors pointed out that sexual assault victims sometimes dont suffer physical injuries, and that both women were assaulted while unconscious after being drugged. ' ' '